World news in brief, 2/13

CAIRO — An Egyptian employee of the U.S. Embassy has been detained by police since Jan. 25, an embassy spokesman said Wednesday.

The jailed staffer was identified as Ahmed Eleiba. Associates said his work involved monitoring developments concerning political Islam in Egypt — a sensitive subject in the wake of the popularly supported military coup that deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

The incident reflected an increasingly aggressive stance by the Egyptian police and judiciary toward anyone suspected of even a tangential connection with the Muslim Brotherhood or any other Islamist group. The Brotherhood has been formally designated a terrorist organization by the interim government.

Thousands of the Brotherhood's supporters have been jailed and more than 1,000 killed in clashes with security forces since July.

Belgium

Child euthanasia law sparks debate

BRUSSELS — Belgian lawmakers clashed sharply on Wednesday about whether to grant terminally ill children the right to ask to die, a legal option already possessed by the country's adults.

The issue is pitting backers who see it as a question of mercy against opponents who claim the law is rushed, flawed and lacking medical rationale. Despite the spirited debate in the House of Representatives, the bill is widely expected to pass Thursday.

The Senate, the other chamber of the federal legislature, adopted the legislation by a wide margin in December. If it passes in the House, all that would be needed for child euthanasia to become legal in Belgium is the signature of King Philippe, normally a formality.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Economic plight sparks civil unrest

SARAJEVO — In the worst unrest since Bosnia's civil war two decades ago, buildings have been set ablaze and the presidency has been put under siege. But the trouble this time is economic — not ethnic.

When Bosnia abandoned communism about two decades ago, officials devised a plan to privatize state-owned companies in a way they hoped would avoid mass layoffs for state workers. It was supposed to be a smooth transition after the 1992-1995 war that left 100,000 dead and devastated the country's infrastructure.

More than 80 percent of privatizations have failed. Many well-connected tycoons have swept into these companies, stripping them of their assets, declaring bankruptcy and leaving thousands without jobs or with minimal pay.

Protests erupted Feb. 4 in the northern city of Tuzla, where thousands of factory workers burned government buildings and clashed with police over the sell-off of four state-owned companies that left them without jobs and earned salaries.

Corruption is widespread and high taxes for the country's bloated public sector eat away at residents' paychecks. Privatizations have decimated the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.